Key Takeaways
- • Registered nurses, joined by union allies, clergy and activists, rallied outside the Cook County Pension Fund building at 70 W. Madison St. in Chicago on Thursday to demand divestment of the fund's $28 million stake in Palantir Technologies.
- • The fund's Palantir position represents less than 0.2% of its nearly $15 billion market value as of March, according to the Hyde Park Herald's reporting.
- • National Nurses United called the action its "largest coordinated national action" against Palantir to date, with protests in seven other cities including Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Austin and New Orleans.
- • Palantir denied the protesters' claims, with spokesperson Dean Lieberman calling them "baseless" and stating the company is "a software company, not a data company."
- • The Cook County Pension Fund Retirement Board did not respond to requests for comment on whether it would divest, and the fund has no specific divestment policy. The board meets next on Thursday, Sept. 3.
Summary
Registered nurses, union allies, clergy and community activists gathered outside the Cook County Pension Fund building in Chicago on Thursday to demand that the fund divest its $28 million investment in Palantir Technologies. The data analytics firm's software is used by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and by hospital systems nationwide. The noon demonstration, which drew about 50 to 60 people according to the report, briefly disrupted midday traffic in the Loop and blocked Madison Street for roughly 10 minutes.
The protest was part of what National Nurses United (NNU), the largest registered nurses union in the U.S., described as its "largest coordinated national action" against Palantir to date. Similar demonstrations were held in seven other cities. Nurses learned of the pension fund's stake through a public records request earlier this year. In May, NNU sent a letter to Tracy Reed, chair of the board's investment committee, urging the board to "promptly and fully divest from all holdings in Palantir." Several nurses from the University of Chicago Medical Center attended, and nurses testified at the board's August 6 meeting. The Chicago Teachers Union also backed the demonstration.
The scrutiny of Palantir centers on its work with ICE. According to court filings, federal immigration officials provided the company with Medicaid data that ICE was not authorized to possess, which was used in ELITE, a Palantir application. Palantir has said the dataset was purged at the government's instruction. Citing 404 Media, the report says ELITE generates maps of potential deportation targets and confidence scores for addresses, using data drawn partly from the Department of Health and Human Services. NNU said Palantir software is used for scheduling and bed placement at hospitals accounting for more than one-fifth of U.S. hospital beds, including Cleveland Clinic, Mount Sinai and HCA Healthcare. Palantir is not currently used at UCMC or Cook County Health.
Palantir has repeatedly denied collecting or sharing customer data. In a statement, spokesperson Dean Lieberman said the company's software "only helps clients analyze information they already control" in the sense of its stated position, and cited more than 20 years of government work across five administrations. As of March, the pension fund's market value was nearly $15 billion, and the company's stock had risen roughly 11% since January, about a point less than the S&P 500 over the same period. The fund's investment policy emphasizes fiduciary obligations and diversification to minimize the risk of large losses, and it has no specific divestment policy. The board meets next Thursday, Sept. 3.
The protest was part of what National Nurses United (NNU), the largest registered nurses union in the U.S., described as its "largest coordinated national action" against Palantir to date. Similar demonstrations were held in seven other cities. Nurses learned of the pension fund's stake through a public records request earlier this year. In May, NNU sent a letter to Tracy Reed, chair of the board's investment committee, urging the board to "promptly and fully divest from all holdings in Palantir." Several nurses from the University of Chicago Medical Center attended, and nurses testified at the board's August 6 meeting. The Chicago Teachers Union also backed the demonstration.
The scrutiny of Palantir centers on its work with ICE. According to court filings, federal immigration officials provided the company with Medicaid data that ICE was not authorized to possess, which was used in ELITE, a Palantir application. Palantir has said the dataset was purged at the government's instruction. Citing 404 Media, the report says ELITE generates maps of potential deportation targets and confidence scores for addresses, using data drawn partly from the Department of Health and Human Services. NNU said Palantir software is used for scheduling and bed placement at hospitals accounting for more than one-fifth of U.S. hospital beds, including Cleveland Clinic, Mount Sinai and HCA Healthcare. Palantir is not currently used at UCMC or Cook County Health.
Palantir has repeatedly denied collecting or sharing customer data. In a statement, spokesperson Dean Lieberman said the company's software "only helps clients analyze information they already control" in the sense of its stated position, and cited more than 20 years of government work across five administrations. As of March, the pension fund's market value was nearly $15 billion, and the company's stock had risen roughly 11% since January, about a point less than the S&P 500 over the same period. The fund's investment policy emphasizes fiduciary obligations and diversification to minimize the risk of large losses, and it has no specific divestment policy. The board meets next Thursday, Sept. 3.
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